Various types of pressure sensing systems for monitoring the pressure within the tires of an automotive vehicle or a trailer have been proposed. Such systems generate a pressure signal using an electromagnetic signal, which is transmitted to a receiver. The pressure signal corresponds to the pressure within the tire. When the pressure drops below a predetermined pressure, an indicator is used to signal the vehicle operator of the low pressure.
Sport utility vehicles and other large vehicles are often used to pull a trailer, and it is not uncommon for a vehicle owner to have more than one trailer. Even with one trailer, it is desirable to monitor the condition of the trailer tires as well as the primary vehicle tires for maintenance purposes. A drawback associated with known methods for identifying and tracking trailer information is that driver intervention is required in order to properly configure the system. The driver is required to calibrate an RF receiver with the associated sensors mounted in the tires of the trailer.
It is commonplace for a vehicle to tow several different trailers and there is a need for a method of identifying a trailer that has been attached to the vehicle without driver intervention. Upon identification of the trailer that has been attached to the vehicle, a stored trailer configuration may be selected from the trailer brake controller which will allow the trailer brake controller to track statistics related to the trailer and also apply a customized, or automated gain setting for the identified trailer.